Send the Gift of Lifelong Learning!

History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration

Gifting Information

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:

Find the course you would like to eGift.

Under “Choose a Format,” click on Video Download or Audio Download.

Click ‘Send e-Gift’

Fill out the details on the next page. You will need the email address of your friend or family member.

Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Once you have paid for your order, your friend or loved one will receive an email letting them know that they have a gift waiting for them at TheGreatCourses.com. That gift will be added to their My Digital Library when they log in and click to redeem it.

Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift.

If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps.

If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com.

What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

If the email notification is missing, first check their Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1800 461 951 for assistance.

How will I know they have received my eGift?

When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

I don’t want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

Please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1800 461 951 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address.

When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:
1. Find the course you would like to eGift.
2. Under "Choose a Format", click on Video Download or Audio Download.
3. Click 'Send e-Gift'
4. Fill out the details on the next page. You will need to the email address of your friend or family member.
5. Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Q: Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

A:
We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

A:
They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Q: How will I know they have received my eGift?

A:
When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

Q: What if I do not receive the notification that the eGift has been redeemed?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call customer service at 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Q: I don't want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

A:
eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Q: Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

A:
Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1800 461 951 for assistance.

Q: Can I update or change my email address?

A:
Yes, you can. Go to My Account to change your email address.

Q: Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

A:
Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

Q: What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

A:
Please please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1800 461 951 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address so you can put in your correct account.

Q: When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

A:
This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Q: Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

A:
Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

Course Overview

Exploration is in our genes. Throughout history, one of the deepest human impulses has been the drive to explore, encounter, and know the unknown. This basic human longing can be traced all the way back to the most ancient origins of exploration over 60,000 years ago, when prehistoric wanderers first settled the globe. Today’s high rates of global tourism and mass migrations reflect continuity with the restless habits of our ancestors.

From ancient wayfarers to modern astronauts, a steady succession of intrepid individuals can take the credit for binding the continents together, connecting previously isolated peoples, and sparking a cross-fertilization of ideas, technologies, and even foods.

In creating new trade routes and initiating a commerce of ideas, explorers have played perhaps the most active role in shaping the globalized world. The trails they blazed were fraught with danger, as they contended with disease, starvation, mutiny, perilous weather, and even cannibals.

In History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration, you delve into the awe-inspiring, vast, and surprisingly interconnected tale of world exploration. Taught by Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, an award-winning history professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, these 24 lectures shine a spotlight on some of the greatest and most influential explorers the world has ever known—successful as well as unsuccessful, admirable as well as flawed. You’ll be spellbound as you witness the treacherous, at times fatal, expeditions into the unknown these adventurers embarked upon, whether to the frozen Poles, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the ocean’s depths, or the final frontier of space.

This course will revolutionize how you view the world by unveiling the process by which we came to know the far reaches of our planet. Throughout, you’ll examine the complex motivations behind these journeys, including religion, conquest, commerce, scientific discovery, and the overwhelming sense of wanderlust; and how voyages of discovery have inspired subsequent voyages—particularly when the preceding journey failed.

You’ll also discover the role that legends and myths have played in inspiring journeys, such as quests for places like the Northwest Passage; expeditions hunting for monsters and cannibals; and the pursuit of real or legendary individuals, such as Dr. Livingstone or Prester John, a mythical Christian king in Asia.

Gripping Stories of Risk and Rescue

Even those familiar with these voyages will find new insights to deepen their understanding of the historical reality, including how oftentimes, the reality of what was or wasn’t found turned out to be much more important than the original mission goals. You’ll be riveted as you follow explorers venturing into uncharted territory and putting themselves, and often their crews, in dire peril.

St. Brendan and his Irish monks: Driven by the desire to escape a tainted world, they set sail into the Atlantic on a legendary journey in a precarious leather boat.

Henry Hudson: After failing to find the Northwest Passage to Asia, Hudson’s crew staged a mutiny, setting him, his son, and several loyal sailors adrift on Hudson Bay, never to be seen again.

Sir John Franklin: Also failing to chart the Northwest Passage, Franklin and his crew mysteriously vanished, with theories of their disappearance ranging from lead poisoning, to bad food canning techniques, to cultural hubris, to cannibalism.

Alexander von Humboldt: Called “the greatest scientific traveler that ever lived” by Darwin, he left behind a life of prestige to chart South America.

David Livingstone: In the most famous PR stunt of the history of exploration, Henry Morton Stanley located the ill Livingstone in Tanzania, supposedly greeting him with the immortal phrase, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Your own journey begins with the amazing feats of pre-modern explorers, including the ancient Polynesian navigators and Pytheas the Greek, who worked without advanced technologies yet achieved epic results. From there, you trace the full trajectory of global exploration, concentrating on those explorers and expeditions that have had the most long-lasting impact on history.

Sail with Captain Cook as he maps vast unknown territories.

Circumnavigate the world with Ferdinand Magellan.

Dive into the Mariana Trench, miles beneath the ocean, with Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh.

Join Apollo 8 as its astronauts capture the space program’s most famous photograph, the 1968 “Earthrise.”

Track the perilous races to the North and South Poles by Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, among others. Discover lesser-known moments of the races, including when Italian pilot Umberto Nobile crashed in the arctic, unleashing a remarkable international rescue effort.

Through it all, you consider what drove these explorers, from proselytizing and pilgrimage to the lure of wealth, conquest, fame, and new lands, as evidenced by the Vikings’ arrival in North America; Marco Polo’s journey along the Silk Road to China; Christopher Columbus’s “Enterprise of the Indies”; the conquistadors’ ravages in Latin America; and the tiny kingdom of Portugal’s triumphant circumnavigation of Africa to seize control of trade in the Indian Ocean.

A Uniquely Global Perspective

In History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration, you not only get the adventurers’ points of view, but the discovered peoples’ perspectives as well. Rather than myopically focusing on Europeans, it also presents a meaningful portrait of the travels of non-Westerners, including:

Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang’s famous “voyage to the West” in search of holy scriptures in India;

Arab scholar Ibn Battuta’s 24 years of travel through the extensive Islamic world; and

Japan’s Iwakura mission to the West, which toured America, Europe, the Middle East, and China to gain scientific and political knowledge after centuries of isolation.

Along the way, you’ll meet several remarkable women who defied the conventions of society and made lasting contributions, like Ida Pfeiffer, an extreme traveler who ventured among Borneo headhunters, fought off Brazilian bandits, and collected scientific specimens for museums to fund her travels. You’ll also learn about Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman whose interpreting skills were crucial to Lewis and Clark as they charted the Louisiana Purchase.

Encounters between explorers and indigenous peoples are a recurring theme throughout—with interactions ranging from cordial greetings and a sense of affinity to reactions of extreme suspicion, violence, and accusations of cannibalism.

Despite such clashes, instances of assistance from locals are numerous. The extent to which explorers relied upon the specialized knowledge of locals is often pushed to the margins in the history of exploration, but it’s a truth that Professor Liulevicius brings into the spotlight.

Embark on a Thrilling Intellectual Journey

As a veteran professor of several top-rated Great Courses who is known for his extensive expertise, Dr. Liulevicius brings this survey to life with vivid detail. When experiencing the material on video, maps help you visually trace the journeys discussed and enhance the professor’s engaging storytelling.

The tales in History’s Greatest Voyages of Exploration will help even familiar things such as spices take on new meaning, as you learn how deeply they have motivated centuries of explorers. Your own travels will also be enriched when viewed in the context of the generations of previous travelers who’ve blazed the path. You’ll see the world through an explorer’s eyes!

Hide Full Description

24 lectures

| Average 30 minutes each

1

The Earliest Explorers

Begin your journey with the Vivaldi brothers' ill-fated journey to India. What drove the brothers - or drives any explorer - to take a risk and venture into the unknown? Consider that question as you look at theories on how the Pacific islands became populated starting with an epic movement 7,000 years ago. x

2

The Scientific Voyage of Pytheas the Greek

Meet the originator of scientific exploration, who trekked to the edge of the world so that he could see for himself what was there. Put Pytheas the Greek in the context of his time and place, sketching the Mediterranean as a cradle of civilization and examining how word of his voyage influenced later exploration. x

3

St. Brendan: The Travels of an Irish Monk

Consider religious motivations for exploration. Men like the Irish monk St. Brendan - who sailed the Atlantic in a tiny leather boat - sought God and fled the world's corruptions, some searching for paradise and some merely for seclusion. Examine how legendary re-workings of such real adventures left a surprising legacy that would affect later exploration. x

4

Xuanzang's Journey to the West

Alarmed at inconsistencies in the Buddhist texts available to him, Xuanzang embarked on an illegal holy pilgrimage to acquire authoritative teachings. See how, in the process of the monk's travels, he brought Buddhist traditions to the Confucian Chinese, achieved celebrity status, and became the central character in the greatest classical Chinese novel. x

5

Leif Eriksson the Lucky

While the story of Leif Eriksson and the Vikings is relatively well known, Professor Liulevicius takes you deeper into the question of why the Vikings, or Norsemen, explored, as evidenced by their broader culture of adventure and values that pressed them onwards in often violent ways x

6

Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville

Although traders had traveled the Silk Road since the Roman Empire, there was little awareness of what existed at the other end - until Marco Polo's accounts of China opened Europeans' eyes to a mysterious, advanced civilization. Start with background on the medieval world, then look closely at Polo's travels and legacy. x

7

Ibn Battuta: Never the Same Route Twice

Examine the life and legacy of Ibn Battuta, who left Morocco in 1325 to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, but discovered a craving for spiritual travel and returned home 24 years later after covering 75,000 miles in the network woven by Muslim civilization." x

8

Portugal's Great Leap Forward

How and why did tiny Portugal, a poor country, take to the seas, round the continent of Africa, hijack the Indian Ocean, and create a global empire? Find out here, with a look at Portugal's rise to superpower status, from Prince Henry the Navigator's call for exploration to Vasco da Gama's successful voyage to Asia. x

9

The Enigmatic Christopher Columbus

Understand the complexities of Christopher Columbus who, in stumbling upon the Americas while attempting to reach Asia by heading West, touched off the massive Columbian Exchange of peoples, plants, commodities, and diseases. Dispel enduring myths, and explore Columbus's religious motives for launching what he called "The Enterprise of the Indies." x

10

Magellan and the Advent of Globalization

Follow the path of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, whose expedition in service of Spain became the first to circumnavigate the world, inaugurating our ability to think globally and accomplishing what Columbus had promised to do - reaching Asia by sailing west from Europe. See how his journey bound together the world economy, creating consequences down to our own times. x

11

The Ruthless Ambition of the Conquistadors

Consider the most brutal of explorers, the conquistadors - Spanish military entrepreneurs including Cortes, Pizarro, and de Soto, who were not directly controlled by the monarchy, but royally sanctioned to seize wealth and lands in the New World. How did they topple civilizations using only a handful of men? What impact did they have on native societies? Find out here. x

12

Henry Hudson: Death on the Ice

Switch gears from voyages of fruitful discovery to a tragic failure ending in mutiny, murder, and a mystery that endures to this day: Henry Hudson's 1610 voyage in search of the Northwest Passage to Asia, funded by two of the first multinational corporations. x

13

The Jesuits on a Global Mission

Founded in 1540, the order of the Jesuits used global cultural exploration as a means to proselytize to local cultures across the world, from India and China to the Americas. Examine their controversial method of inculturation, and place the Jesuit project in the context of a larger intellectual shift towards cultural relativism. x

14

Captain Cook Maps the World

Look closely at Captain Cook, an explorer who in many ways epitomized the age of scientific discovery, which lauded exploration for the sake of knowledge. See how his methods and voyages embodied new attitudes toward foreign peoples, and why it's what Cook didn't find that helped give us the complete world picture we have today. x

15

Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer Genius

Learn how the scientific explorer Alexander von Humboldt - sometimes called a "second Columbus" - taught us to see the world as an interrelated ecological unit. Trace his five-year exploration of the Americas with French botanist Aime Bonpland, in which they covered 5,950 miles and catalogued 6,300 species of plants and animals. x

16

Jefferson Dispatches Lewis and Clark

On President Jefferson's (originally secret) orders, the U.S. Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to chart the new territories gained by the Louisiana Purchase, while recording its people, flora, and fauna. How did they cross Native American-occupied lands peacefully? What was the expedition's political significance? Find out here. x

17

Sir John Franklin's Epic Disaster

Consider a tragic episode: the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, who disappeared in 1845 along with his crew while searching for the Northwest Passage. Compare theories on the fate of the men, and see how the mystery captured the imagination of Franklin's contemporaries, helping to create a culture of adventure. x

18

Ida Pfeiffer: Victorian Extreme Traveler

Meet Ida Pfeiffer, a Victorian women who defied expectations by traveling around the world twice and becoming a best-selling author describing her experiences. Follow her extraordinary journeys to exotic locales and learn how she deftly escaped some perilous situations - including cannibalistic Batak warriors in the jungles of Sumatra. x

19

Japan Discovers the West

Faced with Western imperialism after 200 years of self containment, Japan discovered the West through a series of exploratory diplomatic missions abroad to America and Europe towards the end of the 19th century. Which features of Western culture did they find worth emulating? Which unfamiliar Western practices did they reject? x

20

Dr. Livingstone and Mary Kingsley in Africa

First, consider how the most famous PR stunt in the history of exploration - journalist Henry Stanley finding ailing Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone in a remote town in Africa - reveals how Africa long remained the "Dark Continent" to the outside world. Then, turn to Mary Kingsley, an Englishwoman whose writing revealed West Africa to a European audience. x

21

Arctic Feats and Fates

Who was first to make it to the North Pole? Wade into the debate while examining the fascinating but lesser-known moments and figures of the race, including pilot Umberto Nobile flying a hydrogen-filled semi-rigid airship over the Pole in 1926, then crashing on a second trip, unleashing an international rescue operation. x

22

Antarctic Rivalries

Now, focus on the race to the South Pole and the bitter rivalries surrounding it. Witness how Norwegian Roald Amundsen outdistanced his rival, English explorer Captain Robert Scott, whose return voyage took a tragic turn. Then, follow the hardships of British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose expedition to cross the punishing Antarctic also met disaster. x

23

A Deep-Sea Dive into the Mariana Trench

Take a breathtaking look at a historic descent into the deepest place on earth - the Mariana Trench in the Pacific - by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh. But first, discover some of the highlights of ocean exploration in the centuries before this 1960 expedition. x

24

The Race to Outer Space

Why have humans ventured beyond Earth? Does the future of space exploration lie with commercial interests? Is humanity's future in space? Consider these questions as you consider the past, present, and future of space exploration, starting with the moment Apollo 8's astronauts first witnessed earthrise on Christmas Eve 1968. x

Lecture Titles

Clone Content from Your Professor tab

What's Included

What Does Each Format Include?

Instant Video Includes:

Download 24 video lectures to your computer or mobile app

Downloadable PDF of the course guidebook

FREE video streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

Instant Audio Includes:

Download 24 audio lectures to your computer or mobile app

Downloadable PDF of the course guidebook

FREE audio streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

DVD Includes:

24 lectures on 4 DVDs

168-page printed course guidebook

Downloadable PDF of the course guidebook

FREE video streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps

What Does The Course Guidebook Include?

Course Guidebook Details:

168-page printed course guidebook

Photos & illustrations

Suggested readings

Questions to consider

Enjoy This Course On-the-Go with Our Mobile Apps!*

iPhone + iPad

Android Devices

Kindle Fire Tablet + Firephone

*Courses can be streamed from anywhere you
have an internet connection. Standard carrier data rates may apply in areas that do not have wifi connections
pursuant to your carrier contract.

Your professor

About Your Professor

Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, Ph.D.

University of Tennessee

Dr. Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius is Lindsay Young Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving his doctorate, Dr. Liulevicius served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford...

Reviews

History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration is rated
4.7 out of
5 by
65.

Rated 5 out of
5 by
John Stevenson from
A fun listenI picked up this set because the price was right and it sounded as though it might be a fun series. I was right on both counts. Some of those who gave this course a poorer ranking complained that there were times when the focus was on trivia rather than the history of exploration. Yet it was these bits of relevant trivia that tied the accounts together and which made them so interesting.
I have been through the vast majority of the Great Courses in the area of History. This ranks as one that is better than most, not necessarily because of its depth, but simply because it was a "fun listen."

Date published: 2019-08-12

Rated 3 out of
5 by
zathrus from
Too much trivia and digressionsWhile my opinion is clearly in the minority, I cannot recommend this course. The problem , that many of Professor Liulevicius’s courses share, is that his lectures ramble. Much of his lectures are filled with obvious or irrelevant material. In this course, for example he digresses into an explanation of Christianity as if his students were a group of isolated Tibetan monks who happen not to have read anything about one of the world’s most prevalent religions. In his lecture on Humboldt he discusses Humboldt’s sexual preference as if this was relevant while ignoring many of Humboldt’s discoveries such as the Humboldt current. We hear about Edith Pfeiffer’s life before her travels, a subject that doesn’t seem in any way relevant or even interesting. On the way Professor Liulevicius does convey some useful information on well known expeditions and does lecture on some lesser known adventures. It is a shame that more time isn’t spent on these subjects and less on trivia. His overall theory that mankind has some innate drive to explore is really questionable. While a few individuals explored the world, once humanity had spread, the vast majority of humans never left their own settlements or regular areas of seasonal migrations. Perhaps my own view is somewhat distorted by having viewed or listened to numerous Great Courses that also cover the history of many explorations discussed by Professor Liulevicius. I can recommend his courses on WWI and Eastern Europe that are not duplicated by other courses and do utilize Professor Liulevicius’s special areas of expertise.

Date published: 2019-07-18

Rated 5 out of
5 by
CandyG from
Wealth of Primary SourcesI bought this almost a year ago and just finished it. I learned so much about the exploration of our planet. The photographs and quotes were meaningful and enlightening and the professor was eloquent and interesting. He posed questions to make me think and referred to previous lectures to compare and contrast motivations and experiences of the explorers. Several books were recommended and I can't wait to read them. What a great way to spend my precious time!!

Date published: 2019-05-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Setag003 from
Excellent Course PresentationThis course was a very enjoyable overview of historical exploration. It was extremely well presented by Professor Liulevicius. Having viewed many Great Courses, this was truly a favorite.

Date published: 2019-05-13

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Dale_713 from
Of 65 courses, one I watch 8 episodes in 1 sittingWhy is that? At 70+, I need a computer to keep track of all the courses & lectures I've heard in my life. I've been formally trained (and tested) in the 4 quadrants of brain psychology. This course is definitely a WHOLE-brained course - as opposed to spouting a list of boring FACTS which is prevalent with most monotone lecturers.
Besides the facts, the good professor also hits on the MOTIVATION and personal feelings of those explorers. Yes, it takes real teaching skill to ALSO present the human aspect of putting us in their shoes to experience their joy, anguish, sorrows and exhilaration of their notable feats. I call this the "empathy teaching skill" as demonstrated by the frequent phrase "so what do you think about…" and "can you imagine…"
Also rare (for a professor) is to tell the good, bad and the ugly side of a subject. Of the TGC courses I've bought on history, religion, politics or philosophy, I applaud this professor that has a teaching ability (that few have) who dares to dab their toe into - revealing the IMPACT (or effects) of those exploration (or philosophical) goals on the masses of people. Granted, some of that may be subjective - but I value their opinion (when stated as such).
On that point (of their personal subjectivity) - there seems to be NO restraint when it comes to political bias - but totally TABOO (and ostracized) if it goes against their "herd mentality". For example, the course I bought on Power Over People; the professor talks about what the philosophers taught - but never talked about the IMPACT of those philosophies on the millions (or billions) of people of the world; and their good-bad RESULTS. Without stressing the IMPACT, I might as well listen to a lecture on "the anatomy of brass doorknobs versus bronze doorknobs". So what?
The upper-left brainers interested in quarks, bosons & superstrings would likely prefer an endless list of boring historical facts in this course (of which they probably would remember 10%). If so, this course is NOT for you. However, if your passion is exploration (upper-right & lower-right brain), then likely this course IS for you.
For sport, I was a world-class underwater videographer so I can relate to their exploratory passion: yes, those places become a "part" of the explorer that can't be explained adequately to others.
Well done doc!
Now I'm listening to the TGC course "Introduction to Nanotechnology". MY! What a surprise to see "voyages of exploration" in the most unexpected places.

Date published: 2019-04-04

Rated 5 out of
5 by
GBERET5 from
Age of exploration!Great course for those who are interested or need to understand the Golden Age of Exploration and the impact on U.S. and World history.

Date published: 2019-03-29

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Gharmjo from
A Hard-Working, Romantic Soul Teaches HistoryI always look forward to a Liulevicius course. He loves the humanity of history. His soul is romantic and his associational cortex is a wonder of the world. Who else, in the first minutes of an introductory lecture is capable of correlating history, DNA, and philosophy with global GDP?
Liulevicius works hard to find insight in unexpected places. For example, in L2, he brings to our attention another ancient eastern African coast expedition after Hatshepsut’s 15th century BC expedition along the mid eastern African coast. This was a 7th century BC fleet that went south from the Arabian Gulf to circumnavigate Africa. He disagrees with doubters about the expedition (like Herodotus) because of the expedition’s observation that, after sailing far enough south and turning west, the sun was on their right. Since, that’s astronomically correct, Liulevicius convincingly raises the possibility of a continuum of Egyptian-African interaction.
There are so many stories, excellently told. The story of Pytheas the Greek traveling (~330 BC) to the end of known trade routes to Land’s End, Cornwall is simply fun. Next he traveled north ending up in the Scottish Orkneys watching strange unearthly 50-foot tides, unexplainable before moon-gravitational tides were understood. For Sci-Fi fans, the scene brought to mind a British otherworldly "Dr. Who" style adventure.
And so it goes. From unexpected explanations of the term “monster”; to the integration of Buddhist texts by Xuanzang during his the amazing 15,000 mile journey; the origin of the term "viking" as an adverb and its motivations by the Norse concept of “man's threefold nature"; the cranberries of Vinland; the amazing 75,000 mile trek of the 14th century Islamic judge Ibn Battututa from the safety of the vast ummah of Dar al-Islam (the “house of Islam”) extending from Spain, Africa, India and Chinese ports) to much of the rest of the known world.
There are more serious topics. One helped me come to grips with the religious aggressiveness of the Spanish New World explorers. Liulevicius (L8) shows us that long before 1492, an Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula occurred in the 8th century. The Reconquista finally shook off the Moors 700 years later in, yes, 1492 - possibly explaining why Columbus himself (L9) was motivated to fight the Antichrist he identified with Islam. The Spanish had long experienced the Islamic choice of conversion or life in highly taxed “no future” work. On entering the New World (L11), the conquistadors gave natives the choice of Christianity or slavery: demands closely paralleling those made on their Iberian forefathers but sharpened by 700 years of anguish.
There is so much more. L13 nicely illustrates the intersection of Europeans with Native Americans led to an intellectual shift cause by the discovery of cultural relativism. L15’s exposition of natural complexity theory by the polymath Alexander von Humboldt is a welcome reminder that later “specialization" has sadly shelved Humboldt's non-linear integrative methods with binary age linear showmanship.
Carefully read, L20’s late 1900s dates of encroachment of Europeans into central Africa upend years of misdirected racial disharmony. L20’s Mary Kingsley's story is simply a hoot for adventure freaks. There is much more here that can be read on many levels. Liulevicius is one of the few lecturers who can match entertainment with depth in a way helpful to nearly everyone.

Date published: 2019-03-03

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Seniorlearner from
An excellently presented history courseProfessor Liulevicius is very well organized and his courses well researched. I have enjoyed several he has with The Great Courses. In fact, I bought it partly because he was giving the course. He is not too wordy, but not dull either. And his voice is also well modulated. I have reached the age where someone whose voice drops off is a problem for me to hear.